A yacht for the festival fortnight
The Cannes Film Festival runs from Tuesday 11 to Saturday 22 May 2027 at the Palais des Festivals, and for twelve days the city belongs to it. Chartering a yacht is how a lot of people do this festival. It is your accommodation when every hotel room in Cannes has gone, your dinner table when every restaurant is committed, and a private venue for a screening party or a client evening, moored a few minutes from the red carpet. We handle full weeks, two and three day charters, and day charters on selected yachts. We can also arrange berthing in the Vieux Port, festival tickets and access to the parties that make the fortnight what it is.Why charter a yacht for the Cannes Film Festival?
- A room when Cannes has none. Hotel availability disappears months ahead and prices triple. Your cabins are agreed and fixed long before that.
- A table every night. Restaurants are fully committed through the fortnight. Your chef is already aboard.
- A venue for your own evening. Screening parties, premieres and client dinners, hosted somewhere nobody else can walk into.
- Minutes from the Palais. A Vieux Port berth means you leave a midnight screening and are aboard before the taxi queue has moved.
- The Grand Prix in the same trip. Monaco follows about two weeks later, and one charter can cover both.
Where the yacht sits, and why it decides everything
At the Film Festival the berth is not about visibility, it is about how easily you get between the yacht and the Palais at midnight. Two realistic options.
Vieux Port, Yacht Row
Jetee Albert Edouard runs alongside the Palais des Festivals, which during the festival means you step off the red carpet and onto your own deck a few minutes later. It is the most contested berth in Cannes across the whole year, and festival fortnight is its busiest moment.
Port Canto
Twenty minutes along the Croisette, or a short taxi. Considerably better value, and perfectly workable if your evenings are dinners aboard rather than screenings that finish late.
If your plan involves late nights at the Palais, pay for the Vieux Port. If the yacht is the destination, Port Canto does the job for less.
How many guests you can actually host
The format you choose changes which yacht you need, and the two formats have very different limits.
Cruising charter: 12 guests
A crewed yacht on a commercial charter license caps cruising guests at 12, however large she is. Right for a small group staying aboard for the fortnight, or a day out along the coast between screenings.
Static charter: far more
Alongside the quay the yacht is a venue rather than a vessel, and the numbers change completely. Depending on the yacht and its port permit, that runs from roughly 15 to 20 guests up to several hundred. This is the format behind most festival parties and premieres.
What a festival charter costs
Static hospitality yachts of around 40 meters commonly run about EUR 150,000 for a week. The real range is far wider: a smaller yacht used mainly as a base can start near EUR 20,000, and the largest static superyachts on Yacht Row run into the millions.
On top of the charter fee, budget for VAT and an Advance Provisioning Allowance covering catering, drinks and event costs. Our French Riviera charter cost guide explains how those work.
May pricing
The festival sits at the front edge of the Riviera season. Rates are firmer than the autumn and winter trade shows but softer than July and August, and the fleet is largely in position for summer. What drives the price here is the berth and the fortnight, not the weather.
Cannes and Monaco in the same fortnight
The Monaco Grand Prix follows within roughly two weeks of the festival closing, and the two ports are a comfortable cruise apart. That makes a combined charter genuinely practical rather than a stretch.
It suits a group that wants both without paying for two separate charters, and it uses the yacht the way it works best: you move with the calendar instead of booking around it. See our Monaco Grand Prix charter page for how race week works.
Berths for both weeks have to be secured together and early. This is the single hardest booking on the Riviera calendar, and it is worth starting a year ahead.
When to start
Earlier than any other Cannes week. For a May festival we would start the conversation the previous summer, and a year ahead if you want a Vieux Port berth or a combined Cannes and Monaco charter.
Yacht Row during the festival is committed a long way out, often by returning clients holding the same berth year after year. Late enquiries are workable, but you are choosing from what is free rather than what suits the fortnight.
More events on the French Riviera.
The same yacht, a different week. Each page carries that event’s dates, berths and costs.
Monaco Grand Prix
Late May 2027. The other half of a combined Riviera fortnight.
Read the guide
Cannes Lions
21 to 25 June 2027. Advertising and creative, peak season, books earliest.
Read the guide
Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez
19 to 26 September 2026. The Riviera's biggest sailing regatta.
Read the guideFestival charter questions.
When is the Cannes Film Festival 2027?
Tuesday 11 to Saturday 22 May 2027, at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes.
Can we charter a yacht for part of the festival?
Yes. We handle full weeks, two and three day charters, and day charters on selected yachts. The festival runs twelve days, so partial bookings are common and often the sensible choice.
Can you get us festival tickets and party invitations?
We arrange berthing in the Vieux Port and can help with screening tickets and invitations to festival events. Tell us what you want to attend when you enquire, because the good access is arranged early.
How many guests can we host on board during the festival?
Twelve if the yacht is cruising, however large she is. Alongside the quay as a static event, the same yacht can host roughly 15 to 20 guests up to several hundred, depending on the yacht and its port permit.
Can we do the Film Festival and the Monaco Grand Prix on one charter?
Yes, and it is one of the better uses of a Riviera charter. The Grand Prix falls about two weeks after the festival closes and the two ports are an easy cruise apart. Both berths have to be secured together, so start a year ahead.